Pergrande Project: Nereid Path
by Origm2012
Summary: The Pergrande Project: Nereid Path: Nereid Path has existed for well over two hundred years and serves as one of the founding guilds of the Pergrande Kingdom. Their leader has long navigated the middle ground between aggression and peace, but with new opposition arising to test her values she'll struggle to keep not only herself, but her mages on the right path. Part of the Pergran
1. Where's Lena?

Hi! Stick around to the end for some info.

* * *

 **July 1st, X823, Nereid Path Master's Office, Paraiba City, Pergrande Kingdom**

To the far east of Fiore lays the largest country on Ishgar, the Pergrande Kingdom. A kingdom forged from the efforts and alliance of 3 guilds; Silver Dominion, Solar Plexus and Nereid Path. Despite their differing opinions on how peace should be obtained and strength should be brandished, the Pergrande Kingdom was born from their efforts.

Nereid Path was founded in Paraiba City. The Founders had felt that a life of peace and acceptance should be the core foundation for every mage, but that one should have the ability to defend that peace if need be. The bayside city resided on the Northwestern coast of the Pergrande Kingdom and within that very same bay, floated Nereid Path. The guild had once resided on the beachfront alongside the countless shops and businesses which resided there. However, acceptance means all types of mages called Nereid Path home and with that notion in mind, it wasn't uncommon in Paraiba City for the guild to be thrown into shambles at the drop of a dime once the mages started quarreling.

Lena Baso, the current master of the guild had decided it was too much of a hassle to have to always fill out paperwork every time they broke something so she had her guild redesigned to float about in the bay of Paraiba. The guild was split into two halves. The top half was shaped like a dome and was merely a huge room holding all the normal commodities of a guild. It's roof was made of a crystalline structure which was transparent on the inside, but a dark blue opaque on the outside allowing normal sunlight for the mages. The bottom half was a tower which rested under the water. There were floors for the dorms, there was a floor for Lena's S-class mages, the Viras and then there was Lena's floor. But Lena wasn't in there, as the mages of Nereid Path know, the only person ever to likely be found in there was Aly Hio.

Aly Hio was Lena's second in command, her Orison. The raven haired beauty was hard at work as usual. She was going over paperwork ranging from property damages by mages, to inquiries for work from the locals, to requests for assistance out around Paraiba.

In a normal guild, the master would be the one doing this sort of work, but Lena was notorious for avoiding things that bored her and paperwork was ever so close to the top of that list. As such Aly was stuck doing it. She was working through the paperwork at lightning speed when wave of frustration hit her.

"At this rate, I'm not going to get any practice in today," she sighed. All sorts of books, toys and games lined Master Lena's walls. She had a collection of things that at some point in her life she'd found amazing which was now thrown about her office haphazardly.

"Ahh," Aly groaned. "Where are you Miss Lena?"

She slipped on her white sandals and dusted off her purple, bell bottomed dress before navigating the maze of junk on the floor over to the large bay window. With the room underwater, the view was mostly water with the occasional fish of some sort.

Then in the corner of the room she caught a glimpse of an old rapier, instantly recognizing it as her old weapon of choice she smiled at the thought of how far she'd come under Lena's tutelage.

"Well I guess that's that for today," she sighed. "I need Miss Lena's signature for the rest anyway, so I might as well tidy up the room before heading out to do my rounds."

Aly's rounds consisted of searching the guild from top to bottom for the master. With a little over a decade of experience in their respective roles between the two of them, Lena had gotten quite good at hiding. Aly was sure that Lena would have to come back for food at some point which was why she had a couple mages stationed in the kitchen staking her out, but Lena hadn't been seen for nearly two days. This prompted a quick inventory which revealed several missing bags of grapes, Lena's favorite snack.

Aly had been in the process of organizing the many treasures back onto the shelves, even going so far as to organize them. By the time she finished there was only a slew of papers on the floor, but there were quite a few empty spots on the shelves, reaffirming that wherever Lena was she was merely hiding from work.

With a slight roll of her eyes she got to stacking the random pieces of paper and quickly skimming them to see if there were any she could fill out without Lena when her eyes read over a piece of paper that made the already pale woman lose all color.

"T-This is from the Hekabe," she stammered. "How could she just leave this here? This is serious. I've got to find her!"

The frantic mage was gathering her things when her eyes suddenly caught something out the bay window. Something tiny, but still big enough to be noticed out in the distance.

"Grapes."

* * *

 **July 1st, X823, Outside Nereid Path, Paraiba City, Pergrande Kingdom**

Lena Baso truly had outdone herself this time around. There was nowhere in the guild that she thought Aly wouldn't find her and make her do work so she'd slowly been stockpiling supplies and moving knick-knacks to a secret space just under the dome of Nereid Path until a few days ago when she felt the time was right. Without a moment's hesitation she calmly exited the guild, dove into the water, grabbed her things and floated a ways out to sea. So for the last two days, she had been laying atop the water with her white hair floating beneath her.. The entire plan had been so flawless, Lena was truly impressed with herself.

"Hehe, I'll just finish up this last book and then I'll swim back," she proudly declared. "Aly's gonna be so mad," she giggled. "She's gonna want to know where I was hiding so bad."

With each declaration, she flipped a page and popped a grape in her mouth.

"What could possibly go wrong?" she added as the sun beamed down on her pale skin.

Lena had accounted for everything. Everything except this particular bag of grapes having a hole in the bottom, so as she ate out of the bag floating beside her, every now and then a grape would slip out and sink below her.

She was at peace and was certain nothing could disturb her until an ear piercing scream shook her concentration and she sank into the water below her. When she resurfaced, the realization she'd been caught settled in. On the dock surrounding the guild stood an angry Aly with a towel in her hand. What she was yelling couldn't be made out, but Lena was certain she was gonna get an earful from her now.

She sighed, blew the loose strands of wet hair from her face and helped herself back on top of the water before walking back across the water's surface to the guild. Once she was at the dock, she met Aly's scowl with a cheerful smile before taking the towel, her black pants and silver sweater drooping even more than usual from the weight of the water.

"Oh, don't be so angry Aly," Lena teased. "I was gonna come back eventually."

Aly's scowl held in place as she handed the letter over to Lena. One look at it cleared up the reason behind Aly's current mood.

"Not going," Lena said bluntly as she began drying off her air.

"Miss Lena?! What do you mean you're not going?" gasped Aly.

"Those old fools have been asking the same things of me for years," said Lena. "I'm not the old master. I have no intention of leading the Hekabe Aly. Not now, not ever."

"But it wouldn't hurt to just go to the meeting," pleaded Aly. "It'd be good for all the Segeni if you did. At least to show the younger ones that you still care about traditions. You've done wonders for me, think about how many others you could help."

"You think I want more work," laughed Lena. "You as an apprentice is a lot of work as it is."

"Miss Lena," pleaded Aly as she put on her most childlike voice.

" _Ugh,"_ thought Lena. _"She's doing the voice. She thinks it's cute and that I'll cave at the cuteness, but really it just gives me indigestion. Nope. I can hold out."_

"Please Miss Lena?"

" _I don't have it in me to tell her that kiddy voice is pretty damn annoying, but if she does it again, feelings be damned."_

"Just tell me you'll think about it?"

"Oh screw this," said Lena before turning and leaping back onto the water and running back to her safe haven.

"Miss Lena!" screamed Aly.

"I'll do it!" Lena yelled back, just leave me out here for a little longer.

Aly smiled in triumph. _"Baby voice never fails."_

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

So! The Pergrande Project is appearing today mostly in place of the Summit Project as that has been put on an indefinite hold due to a number of things. But Dreadburner94, MyDearWatson, and myself still wanted to do a collaboration like this. So hopefully it works out just as well as the Summit Project did. We've been working a lot on figuring out the details for this collaboration, especially since it's in a different country and timeframe. But it's been a lot of fun working on a project like this again and I am looking forward to see what's in store!

There will be Rules and an OC Form on each of our profiles, but I wanted to go over some things here.

Like I stated before, this story is set in Pergrande Kingdom in the year X823 and starting on July 1st. Please remember this when creating your character and their history.

Each of the cities and towns are named after gemstones, so if you wish to create your own city/town, please use a gemstone for the name. But do keep in mind that Citrine, Onyx, Paraiba, Alexandrite, and Peridot have all been taken.

We have chosen not to accept any Slayer type magic/character as well as no machia based characters or demons and gods. Those were personal preferences that we chose, so if you send in one of those types, we will ask you to change it.

You are welcome to submit multiple OCs, but they must belong to separate guilds. We are also limiting the number of siblings between the stories.

Just like with the Summit Project, all three of us will be viewing every submission sent in and deciding as a group whether they will be accepted or not.

You must send your OC in a PM and please send your OC into the person who's writing for that guild. So if you are submitting one to Solar Plexus, send the submission to MyDearWatson. If it is for Silver Dominion, it will go to Dreadburner94. And if it is for Nereids Path, it will go to Me. And please title your message as Character Name – Guild Name. Makes it easier on us.

Nereid Path will be sporting a much less structured guild system. So apart from the master, and second in command there will a total of 25 or so spots. A small portion of which will be the S-class mages.

I think that should be it for now. The rest of the rules and everything will be on my profile. But please have fun and be creative when creating your characters!

I'm looking forward to see what you all come up with!

We will all be updating again once we have enough submissions, so please be patient with us!


	2. I'll Do It When I Wanna!

**July 1st, X823, Nereid Path Master's Office, Paraiba City, Pergrande Kingdom**

"I don't wanna, Aly!"

Her voice even reaching that volume drew confusion on most of the Nereid Path mages. Lena and Aly had been going back and forth for the better part of the evening over whether or not Lena would go visit the Hekabe.

"Miss Lena! The Hekabe is our people's Sacred Place. To deny it, is akin to denying all our people," pleaded Aly.

"Aly. I already said I'll go. That doesn't mean I have to go now," Lena added slyly.

Aly was at a loss for words. It was one thing for Lena to be stubborn, but to this extent was a new level for the second in command to combat. It was almost as if Lena couldn't be bothered with the conversation as she flittered around her room slowly placing knick knacks back on the floor and drying her long white hair.

Aly gritted her teeth in frustration. Watching Lena act without a care in the world was one thing, but to deny their people pushed Aly just over her limit.

"Fine," she began. "But what'll we do if they come here?"

"Ha! Why in the hell would they come here Aly?"

Aly's eyes went wide. "Did you even read the letter Miss Lena?!"

"I read it. Mostly. Ish. Eh."

Aly unfolded the letter and frantically searched for the lines which were the real cause for worry.

"If you continue to be negligent in your duties, we will be forced to meet you in Paraiba," read Aly.

"Pfft! And what are they gonna do once they get here?" Lena half-laughed. "Aly. If there was something they could have done to force me to lead the Hekabe they would have by now."

"Miss Lena, the title of Dushen is a great honor."

"Yeah, but it's too much work," cried Lena. "And besides. Only one Segeni can hold that title at a time. Somewhere out there my master is alive and well."

Aly wanted to press further, but having been down this road several times before the mage knew when she was reaching dangerous territory with her master and so she left it alone.

"Fine," began Aly. "If you'll keep your word to go soon. I'll leave it alone."

"Yeah. Yeah. I'll go," she added with a wave of her hand as a spherical toy already piqued her interest.

Just as Aly turned to exit she was reminded by the fact that the mages of Nereid Path hadn't seen Lena in some time. "And be sure to check on the mages. When you're gone for so long it can be worrisome."

"For you or for them?" Lena teased Aly.

* * *

 **July 2nd, X823, Nereid Path Dorms, Paraiba City, Pergrande Kingdom**

"Ugh, I really don't like being in here," Aly whispered to herself as she struggled to peer through the darkness.

"Reo?" she continued as quietly as possible.

Aly was currently in a Nereid Path mage's room, Reo Triste. Despite it being midday, the room was entirely devoid of light making it just a bit harder than impossible to see in the dark.

"Reo?" she whispered again. "Are you in here?"

She was inching through the dark, hoping to not bump into anything. Normally, there was a light switch in the dorms, but Reo had his taken out. In response to that, Aly usually kept a flashlight on hand when it came to checking on Reo, but Lena thought it might be amusing to hide it from Aly.

"Where was his bed?" Aly asked as she tried to recreate a mental picture of the room before Reo got to it.

It took a little work, but eventually she inched her way over to the bed and cautiously poked at where she figured Reo would be sleeping. Though after a few pokes, she realized she was hitting nothing, but bed sheets.

"Reo?!" said through a mix of whispers and yelling. "Where are you?"

She was inching away from the bed as she spoke making it impossible to not trip over something in the middle of the floor.

"What was that?" Aly asked as her hands began to feel through the darkness.

Very quickly they felt what resembled a nose and lips.

"Reo!" she screamed as the realization set in.

"Huh?" came a groggy voice through the darkness. "Is that you Aly?"

"Yes. It's me!"she yelled as she stood to her feet and began yelling into the darkness. "Why are you on the floor? Wouldn't a bed be more comfortable?"

"What difference does it make? A bed. The floor. Six feet under. It's all the same," Reo added blandly.

Aly shook off the depressive side effects of the conversation and quickly turned to the idea of work. "Reo, you should really try taking on a job or two?"

"Yeah. Work," began the mage in the darkness. "Take on a job, deal with the hassle of fighting, then come back and then there's nothing to do with the money."

"Who knows," said Aly. "You could find something you really like while out on a mission. Or come across something new."

"Or die," he added.

"Nope! I gave it a shot!" shouted Aly before dragging the man to his feet and tossing him into the hallway.

The light of the hallway didn't do much in the way of blinding his dark blue eyes as his matching hair hung over them. He was thin and pale from a lack of sunlight.

Reo Triste was a man who seemed to exude weariness.

"Can I at least get my hoody?" asked Reo just as a blue hoody flew into his face. "Thank you."

He pulled it over his head, dusted off his grey pants and laced up his black shoes before being pulled up the spiral staircase to the main floor of the guild. She quickly pulled him to the mission board.

"Pick?"

"Right now?" he asked as he slowly eyed the bar.

"Yes now," she said pulling him back to focus.

With a sigh of defeat he picked one of the lower reward missions and turned to her for approval to resume his normal routine.

"See was that so hard. Now be sure to complete that soon. And cheer up. What's the worst that could happen?" she asked before quickly adding. "Other than death!"

"I could go on this mission. Meet the love of my life. Try to impress her. Learn that her parents like a special brand of pasta only found in Citrine. Go there and buy it. Come back to her and make it for them in attempt to win them over, only to find out that I have prepared the sauce wrong at which point they forbid me from ever seeing her again and ultimately leave me to wonder for the rest of my life, if the result would have been different if I'd seasoned the sauce differently."

It took an immense amount of energy to stay on topic for Aly, but eventually she managed to wade past the babble that Reo had spewed and said, "Just get the mission done."

* * *

 **July 2nd, X823, Nereid Path Master's Office, Paraiba City, Pergrande Kingdom**

Lena was seated in her office across from one of the guild's recently joined members.

"Kalafuna Rarewyn. Am I pronouncing that correctly?" strained Lena.

There was a lot Lena was able to do as guild master, but there was an equally large list of things she hated doing. One of which was a common 'getting to know you' monthly meeting that Aly felt was mandatory for the guild master and new mages.

The mage across from her was Kalafuna Rarewyn. A long time resident of Paraiba City who had recently joined the guild.

The mage was just over thirty and stood at around six and a half feet tall. She gave Lena no reason not to want to be in the meeting as she came across as a genuinely kind person, but that didn't stop the guild master from imagining herself anywhere, but there.

" _I really hate these meetings. It just doesn't make sense. Who ever got to know their mages better through a questionnaire? But then Aly would say I'm not around enough to get to know them personally. But I just want to sleep or swim or both."_

She was all set to power through the rest of the meeting when an idea hit her and a sly smile took root on her face.

"Kalafuna Rarewyn?" began Lean. "Am I pronouncing that correctly?"

"Yes ma'am," smiled the mage. "But you can call me Kala."

"Much shorter. I like it. Do you have a bathing suit on you?"

"Why yes I do!" she said through a mix of confusion and excitement.

Within the hour, Kala found herself with her sunflower yellow hair tied up and in an orange two piece bikini, which showed off her ample bosom and curves, floating beside Lena out in the bay of Paraiba City.

They drifted around in peace and serenity for quite some time.

"Miss Lena?" began Kala.

"Hmm?"

"Well I was wondering about the meeting. Are we no longer having it?"

"Floating around, not for you?" Lena asked without opening an eye.

"Oh! No, it's not that. It's just a little strange. It's just I thought we were supposed to get to know each other."

"We are," laughed Lena as she peeked over at Kala. "Now I know that floating quietly isn't for you."

Kala flushed in embarrassment.

."Oh come on. No need to be embarrassed. Just relax. How about you tell me why you stayed in Paraiba all this time?"

"Well," began Kala. "Paraiba's home. I've got my parents here. I've worked here my whole life. This is the only place I've really ever known."

"But isn't the same thing over and over tiresome," yawned Lena. "There's so much to see, once we confine ourselves to only looking at one thing we tend to forget about all the things around it."

"That's true. My parents think I've been wasting my talents by not working as a mage."

"And what do you think?"

"Well. I sorta miss working as a jewel craftsman."

"Why?"

Kala was a little taken aback by the abrupt question, but answered nonetheless. "Because it's been a lot of fun to work there all these years."

"Tch, no," said Lena as she flicked Kala's forehead. "Why is it that you have to miss it?"

Kala floated in thought for a bit before shrugging in confusion at the question. "Because I'm a mage now?" she answered unsure of herself.

"So what?" asked Lena as she popped a grape in her mouth. "What about you being a mage says you have to give up being a jewel craftsman?"

"Well-"

"The answer is nothing Kala," said Lena. "If you've liked working there so long. I don't see why you'd have to stop. If you want to work as a mage, I don't see why you can't. What is there that says you can't do both?"

"But what about my parents?"

"Eh, normally, I'd say 'what about them?' But I don't see how you doing both would bother them. I can't see a reason why you can't craft jewels in your downtime between missions."

The realization hit Kala like a ton of bricks.

" _Miss Lena is right? Isn't she."_ thought Kala.

"When you start thinking of things as either one way or another, you lose sight of all the other possibilities," yawned Lena.

The guild master turned over on her side. "See we're getting to know each other better already."

However, a sudden burst out onto the dock of the guild could be heard accompanied with yelling.

"Oh crap," said Lena. "I was never here. We had a good meeting."

And with that the guild master disappeared beneath the surface.

"Miss Lena! Where are you?" yelled Aly from the dock then her eyes landed on Kala. "Oh, my apologies Kala. I expected to see the master. Have you seen her?"

The sunflower haired mage looked over at the bubbles slowly rising beside before turning back to Aly. "No ma'am.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Well, there goes the next installment of the Nereid Path Portion of our Pergrande Project. If you're not already, be sure to go over and read Dreadburner94 and MyDearWatson's portions as well. Working on this has been a lot of fun so far and I'm looking forward to writing more. If you're interested in being a part of the project, head over to our profiles for OC forms and then submit them via PM. Thanks for reading.

OC Credit: Very grateful for the wonderful OCs, I'll be introducing more next chapter. If I misrepresent your OC in anyway do not hesitate to tell me.

Mary Allen - Kalafuna Rarewyn

Piece of Sheet - Reo Triste

Review Responses:

½) MyDearWatson and Dreadburner94 - Well, figured I'd do both of you at once. Thanks for bringing me onto the project, it's always fun working with you all.

3) Black Falcoln - Glad you decided to join us for this project as well.

4) Mary Allen - I had taken a leave of absence from fanfiction due to tech issues and I must say I am presently surprised to still be meeting new people and what's more, to meet genuinely kind people like yourself.

5) Warmachine325 - Glad you're reading this story as well. Yup. New country, lots of things left for us to establish. Thanks for the support.

6) TheLonelyAnon - You know when we were deciding guild designs, Watson and Dread came up with some of the most amazing ideas. I like an underwater guild for Nereid Path, but I 'not so' secretly love their guild designs.

7) Momochan77 - Thanks for reading.


	3. That Smell?

**Author's Note: Important stuff after the chapter. Be sure to read through it.**

* * *

 **July 3rd, X823, Paraiba City, Pergrande Kingdom**

With a scowl etched across her face, a young woman covered in dirt and grime walked slowly back along the path to Paraiba City, home to Nereid Path.

Her dark red hair was kept up in a high ponytail and hung down to her hips, but it now held streaks of murky water with a light coat of dirt.

Her hair had not been the only victim as the pair of tight black jeans held up by a black leather belt with a silver skull buckle and black heeled ankle boots that she wore were now most certainly covered in a mixture of mud and who knew what else.

A black leather jacket which normally found itself worn over a red crop was draped over her shoulder for the simple fact that to wear it in its current state made the young woman feel like she was walking with an extra layer of skin.

"Tch. I still can't wrap my head around how Reo, of all people, managed to give me the slip. The mission would have been so much easier if he just came along, but no, 'What if I get cut?', 'what if dirt gets in the cut?', 'what if the cut gets infected and I die?'. Then before I knew it, Aly was pushing me out the door and Reo had slipped away."

She had made it to the town's bay at this point and she was in the process of deciding between waiting for the guild to circle closer or swimming there. She pulled her red fingerless gloves out of a pocket, shook off some of the dirt and fit them on once more. After securing the steel keyring which held 5 keys and hung on her waist, she stepped up to the edge of the dock and prepared to dive in.

"Oh hi Garnet. How are you today?" came a villager's voice. Though it quickly trailed off once her black, almond shaped eyes met his and made it clear that she was in no mood for small talk.

But what really stopped him in his tracks was the scent radiating off the young woman.

"Catch you later," he said as he quickly back pedaled holding his breath.

With that, Garnet dove into the bay and quickly began swimming towards the floating guild. When she resurfaced, she was greeted by Aly who pulled her onto the guild's dock.

"Miss Lena sent me," Aly said with a smile. "She has something she wants you to do."

The seawater had managed to wash off some of the dirt and grime to the point where one could see Garnet' pale skin and even make out a small scar on the right of her stomach.

She did a quick pass over her ears to check for the red studs and the metal bar in her left ear before answering, "Miss Lena? Has something she wants someone to do?"

To which she only received a nod from Aly.

Confusion etched itself across Garnet's face, but the cheerful smile on Aly's face was even more unsettling. Everything in Garnet, just wanted a hot shower and to find Reo and get him back for bailing on her. Her entire walk back she had been caught up in how exactly she'd get even, but for Lena to actually want something done, it had to be serious.

And with that both women were off to the guild master's office. Although passing through the main hall of the guild allowed Garnet to catch a glimpse of Reo at the bar.

"Hey Reo!" she nearly growled.

The blue haired mage lazily turned to greet his friend, but even his eyes went wide when he saw the state she was in and then oddly enough he found himself struggling to stifle a laugh.

"Laugh and you're dead!" yelled Garnet as she and Aly went down the stairs.

Within a few moments Aly and Garnet found themselves in Lena's office before their master, who coincidentally was asleep.

"Um, Miss Lena?" Aly nervously began.

She drew almost no reaction from the master forcing her to try again.

"Miss Lena?" she tried a little louder.

"Should I just come back?" Garnet asked awkwardly.

"No no," began Aly. "She had something really important to tell you."

"But-"

"Miss Lena!" Aly shouted.

"Ugh?" Yawned Lena. "Why are you yelling so early in the morning?"

Aly let out a breath of air as she calmed herself. "It's midday and I just left you in here for a few minutes, how could you possibly fall asleep already?"

"Is there something you needed Aly?" asked the guild master.

Aly shook her head in defeat. "Yes, Miss Lena. Garnet is here. Remember you wanted to see her?" she half asked, half reminded.

"Huh?" said Lena as she rubbed her eyes. "Oh. How'd the mission go Garnet?"

"It went well Miss Lena," said Garnet as a shiver ran down her spine. "I arrived at the field where it was thought a vein of jade gemstone had been stumbled upon. It took some time, but eventually I found a trace of some gems."

"So what happened here?" Lena asked as Garnet's smell finally hit her and she began looking through her knick knacks for something.

"Ahh. While digging through the field for the vein, I accidentally pierced a waste pipe and things… Well they got out of hand."

"Oh dear," began Aly.

"HA! So you're covered in shit!" roared Lena. "Here."

The guild master had found a scented trinket and draped it on Garnet's head.

Lena took a deep breath. "Ahh, that's much better. Now what were you here for again?"

"Ugh. Miss Lena. Please stay focused," said Aly. "You brought Garnet here to talk about Reo."

"Reo? What's wrong with Reo?" asked Garnet.

"Nothing that I know of," said Lena in confusion.

Garnet looked between Lena, who bore a look of confusion and Aly, whose head was in her hands now.

"What's going on Miss Aly?"

"I wanted Miss Lena to talk to you about getting Reo more involved in work," sighed Aly.

"Oh? Don't worry about that," began the red head. "I'm on my way to pay him a visit right after this."

"Oh that's right! You thought I should tell Garnet that forming an actual team with Reo might be for the best," said Master Lena.

"You want just the two of us on a team?" asked Garnet.

"What? No?" said Aly, missing the deflation that came from her fellow guildmate. "We've decided that it might be for the best to have the Viras lead teams from here on out and since Reo has trouble, staying on task, we figured you should have him on your team. However, your team would have to have at least one more person."

"So who else will be on the team?" asked Garnet.

"Well," began Aly. "We've got some possible candidates here for you to loo-"

"Nope. You choose," interrupted Lena.

"What? Why?" asked the other two women.

"Things aren't the same for you as they used to be. I want you to go upstairs and show us that. When find out who else you want on your team, come back to me."

* * *

 **July 3rd, X823, Paraiba City, Pergrande Kingdom**

A pair of intensely wild blue eyes pierced out across an open road. The owner had short, rose gold hair that was messily styled to the left in several small, messy spikes and held up with a tattered, dark blue headband to keep his hair out of his eyes

The tanned skin man stood at five and nine inches and filled out his short sleeved, gray tunic lined with dark blue trim with a toned physique that spoke to years of training. It hung down past his waist and had a tattered left sleeve. A leather belt wrapped around his waist that holding a few different pouches. A brown leather harness held a small, triangular piece of leather armor over his left pec and he had on a pair of black pants that were tucked into brown leather boots. His hands were fitted in a pair of loose and fingerless brown leather gloves which reached halfway up his forearms.

Sweat dripped down his face, but his smirk seemed to be plastered onto his face permanently. His blistered hands gripped the dagger in his hands even tighter as he resumed his for people in need of a hero.

His search had turned up zero possible attempts to rescue people as he wasn't even on a mission. It had been a slow day and in an attempt to bring excitement and glory his way he went ashore and was walking around the smaller roads outside Paraiba City.

"There's no one to save," he said almost defeated as he walked past people on the street. "Maybe I should head back to the guild."

He had absentmindedly spoken aloud and unbeknownst to him, several people known for hanging around the outskirts and scamming travelers had overheard him.

Immediately the cogs in their fiendish minds began turning and eventually they settled on a damsel in distress.

"He's got some nice gear on him," said one.

"And it'd be one less mage to get in our way," said the other.

They went over to a nearby abandoned shack and lit it on fire. One of their companions went behind it and was to call out for help when signaled.

In no time at all, the smell of smoke drew the man's attention and he began darting towards the source and before he knew it one of the scammers came running up to him begging for help.

"Please sir," he cried. "You seem like a strong, young lad. My house is burning and my wife is inside."

"Yes! I can help! Lead the way!" said the mage.

The mage and the scammer arrived at the shack with the latter severely out of breath.

"Can you hear me?!" the mage called from outside the burning shack.

"Yes, I'm stuck inside. Please come in and help me!" the man called back in his most feminine voice.

Completely missing the issues with the scene ahead of him, the mage kicked the door down and rushed inside.

Instantly, both of the thieves barricaded the opening with a large piece of scrap hanging from the house.

"We got em'!" they both cheered.

"Stupid mages," began a thief. "They think they're so high and might, but they're no match for our brains. As soon as this one burns to death. We'll put out the fire and pick him clean."

"I'm not dead!" called the mage from inside the burning house. "And I can hear you. Call it luck. Or call it the mark of a hero. But you picked the wrong opponent."

There was a loud thud from inside and within an instant all the burning walls had fallen to the side. His clothes were a little singed, but the mage was entirely unharmed.

"Damn it!" screamed one of the thieves. "Run! We'll get you next time. This won't be the last time you see the Merkali Brothers!"

"Ahh, a hero wouldn't let villains get away now would he?!" the mage called out triumphantly. He held out his dagger and with one quick swipe, said, "Blaze!"

The movement unleashed a dark fireball just big enough to catch up to the brothers.

"Oh crap brother move!"

"No you move!"

"You're in my way!"

"Oh no!"

There was a loud pop and next the brothers were screaming for help to put out the flames from other people on the road.

"Not to worry. A hero helps out even villains," said the mage as he held both of them up by their collars before tossing them into a nearby stream.

"Be sure to tell your friends in jail who stopped your evil doing."

"But we don't know who you are," they said together.

"Ugh. I'm getting there," began the mage. "I am the great light. The man loved by all, respected by the people of Pergrande and looked up to by aspiring heroes. I am the one who forces all villains to cower by just my footsteps. I am the one whose magic knows no bounds and stands atop all the other heroe-"

"Just kill us already," said one of the thieves.

"The name's Altan and I'm the greatest hero to ever live."

* * *

 **July 3rd, X823, Nereid Path Guild Master's Office, Paraiba City, Pergrande Kingdom**

"So when are we going to Hekabe?" Aly asked excitedly.

"We?" questioned Lena as she dug through another box of trinkets. "I know you don't expect me to travel their sanely with you at my side."

"No. Of course not Miss Lena," Aly said smugly. "But I figured if I said something crazy, you'd forget that you're still avoiding. If you leave, I'd of course have to stay behind to watch over things."

Not liking that her apprentice had pulled a fast one on her, she quickly turned on her heels to look at Aly.

"Someone's quite proud of themselves," Lena began.

"Well. A little," laughed Aly. "I spend all day trying to figure out your next trick. So it's kinda nice to catch you every now and then."

"I don't think I like that," pouted Lena, her hand gingerly resting on her rapier.

"Miss Lena," Aly gasped. "What are you doing? It was a joke?"

"What do you mean?" said Lena as she twirled the blade a little more. "I like jokes don't I. If we were to ask people who liked jokes more, it'd be me."

In that instant, Aly made a break for the door, but it was already too late as the water on her skin began to crawl and before she knew it she was on her knees fighting laughter.

"It's a joke Aly, a joke," laughed Lena.

"Miss Lena!"

At the same time, Garnet was at the bar with Reo.

"And what exactly did you do while you were hiding from work?" the freshly showered redhead asked.

"Sleep," Reo said as he sly reached for a drink.

"Not a chance!" she laughed. "Not another drink, until you help me choose someone for our team."

"Why do I even have to join a team?"

"Because, everyone's tired of you skipping out on work."

"But what if I join a team and the team has good chemistry, but I make a mistake and the team doesn't trust me. Then we go on a mission and I hesitate and someone gets hurt."

"We'll be on a team together, what's the worst that could happen. Now help me choose someone. It's got to be someone who is strong and dependable and it wouldn't hurt if they were easier to deal with."

"A hero has arrived!" shouted Altan as he burst through the door.

"Him," said Reo.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Before I get into the regular author's note, I want to take a moment to apologize for the lapse in updates this last month. It just became a really hectic month for me and writing in general became more and more difficult to get down. I hope to be updating stories again regularly this coming week. I'll also be using my forum once again to post updates on what I'm working on and answer questions about the stories I write on my own where applicable.

The three founding guilds – Solar Plexus, Silver Dominion, and Nereid Path all belong to their own cities. They are not all in Alexandrite, that is merely the capital for Pergrande. Solar Plexus is in Citrine City. Silver Dominion is in Onyx City. And Nereid Path is in Paraiba City. There were some mix-ups about this and we wanted to make sure it was cleared up.

There are neither Rune Knights nor a magic council in this story. However, there are some conventional counterparts we developed for the lore of this story and if you feel like you have an idea or an OC which might be applicable to this, be sure to reach out to us and we'll discuss it.

OC Credit: Very grateful for the wonderful OCs, I'll be introducing more next chapter. If I misrepresent your OC in anyway do not hesitate to tell me.

MyDearWatson - Garnet Payne

Dreadburner94 - Altan Duff

Review Responses:

Momochan77 - Glad you're enjoying the story.

Mary Allen - It's always nice to get a review for a story, but this was especially kind of you to write. Thank you. I think we all really took a liking to Reo in general. Lots of fun to write and I'm glad Kala worked out well. Be sure to let me know if I mess up.

Shadowed Cherry Blossoms - Glad you liked it. It's always nice to hear that people liked the creativity of an idea like this because we're not really in the original setting, but we're not entirely removed from it. So it's kind of you to say that.

KingKatsu - No worries on reviewing every chapter. I'm glad you liking the story so far. Oh and it seems Reo is quickly picking up popularity. That's cool.

Piece of Sheet - I can't thank you enough for Reo and if he's working for you then that's even better. Thank you so much for giving him to us.

6/7) Watson/Dread - You guys are great, but I don't think you understand how much of a treat it is to see your guild masters come to life. If you could read what you write without having written it, you guys would understand how much I love reading stories from you both.

8) SmilingPrince - Yeah, I had a feeling people would start to feel that way about Lena. It's just a part of who she is. Haha. Thanks for reading.


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